Open your heart to the dream of Easter

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I love the sunrise.

There is something about that magical moment between the night and the day that has a dream-like quality. At sunrise the day is still full of possibilities, and you can imagine that anything is possible. You can take on whatever the day has in store for you; the troubles of life seem somehow far away.

For those who begin their day every day looking at the sunrise, I wonder if they appreciate how God has created every day to begin like a dream. In truth, all things start out as dreams. Everything that is a creation of human ingenuity, everything we hold, wear, or watch, everything we sit in, or listen to, started out as a dream. Before anything can become tangible, it must first become reality in the mind of the dreamer.

The dreams of dreamers bring great things to life, heart transplants, fuel injection, eyeglasses, air conditioning, and yes, flush toilets. All these things were once a dream in a dreamer’s mind.

And yet this world of dreams is also filled with nightmares. Nightmares that we’ve dreamed-up, nightmares like nuclear weapons, slavery, war, poverty, injustice and oppression.

There are many in this world of ours that would say, “I had a dream, but it turned out to be a nightmare.” The good news for all who live in a nightmare is that the Good Friday nightmare was transformed into the Easter dream. The way has been opened for ending all nightmares and transforming all dreams.

We can now dream of plenty in the midst of poverty. We can dream of compassion in a world filled with hate. We can dream of justice in the midst of inequality. We can dream of love in the midst of hate. We can dream of holiness in the midst of hell.

This is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of the resurrection; the power to end nightmares and transform dreams into realities. But the truth is few people are dreaming.

Too often we don’t incorporate the dream of Easter into our own lives, or we dream puny dreams, with puny hopes, puny ambitions, and with a puny faith. Instead of dreaming Easter dreams and allowing God to transform our nightmares, instead of living a life of joy, we develop the philosophy only to dread one day at a time.

What are your Easter dreams? What nightmares do you yearn to have transformed into dreams of joy? What are your Easter dreams for your life, your job, your relationships with friends and family?

Whatever those dreams are they can have life if you will just open your heart to the dream of Easter; the nightmare of Good.

Steve Woody is senior pastor at First United Methodist Church-Pasadena.